Anxious Attachment and Relationship Processes: An Interactionist Perspective
Abstract
Relationship processes in adult romantic relationships have been vastly studied under the aegis of attachment theory. Attachment theory is interactionist in nature, proposing that individual differences in levels of both attachment avoidance and anxiety predict an individual's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in contexts that activate attachment concerns. A growing body of research is beginning to systematically test the conditions in which individual differences in attachment orientations both predict and fail to predict relationship processes. In this article, we focus on anxious attachment and review a program of research showing that the potentially destructive relationship processes typically observed in highly anxious individuals do not always appear in neutral or benign contexts, or when security needs are met. We argue that research needs to more thoroughly investigate the conditions that should, or should not, activate attachment concerns and thus result in links between individual differences in attachment orientations and relationship processes.
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Attachment behaviors are most evident during conflict or stress.
“Attachment behaviors are most evident during conflict or stress, as conflict and stress are theorized to activate working models of attachment [3,10].”
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“Attachment behaviors are most evident during conflict or stress, as conflict and stress are theorized to activate working models of attachment [3,10].”
BackgroundMacDonald, T. K., Wood, V., & Fabrigar, L. R. (2019) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.2578 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
- Authors
- Campbell, L., & Marshall, T.
- Affiliations
- Western University (CA)
- Brunel University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Campbell, Lorne
- Venue
- Journal of Personality
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-10-19
- Volume
- 79
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1219-1250
- ISSN
- 0022-3506 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-6494
- OpenAlex
- W1584525355
- Cited by
- 104
- References
- 88
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 0.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- attachment anxiety, attachment theory, romantic relationships, attachment avoidance, attachment security, individual differences, relationship processes, interactionist perspective
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Love, Male, Models, Psychological, Object Attachment, Stress, Psychological
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